The present invention relates to transcript apparatuses for transcribing a finely engraved pattern formed on a surface of a die onto a surface of a forming product using lithographic technology, and more particularly, to a transcript apparatus that can minimize positional displacement (lateral displacement) between a die and a forming product.
In recent years many researches have been done in the field of a nanoimprint technology. This technology is to transcribe a pattern formed on a die to a forming product, and concretely press with a given pressure a die (template or stamper) on which an ultra-fine pattern is formed by an electron-beam printing method onto a resist film formed on a surface of a transcription substrate (see the literature: Precision Engineering Journal of the International Societies for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology). Here the die is composed of, for example, a quartz crystal substrate and the resist film serves as a firming product.
When performing such a transcription using a lithograph technology, an attitude of the die needs to be finely adjusted to a surface of the forming product under the following condition: The surface of the forming product is brought into close and uniform contact with a transcription surface formed with a pattern of the die. By so doing, a finely engraved pattern formed on the die is precisely transcribed to the forming product.
In order to finely adjust an attitude of a die in such a way, the above literature discloses a transcript apparatus having a die holder made of flexible raw material. This transcript apparatus drives the die holder such that a die moves along a surface of a forming product so as to press a transcription surface of the die onto the surface of the forming product.
Then the transcript apparatus needs to press the die onto the surface of the forming product with low pressure possible in order to avoid damages to the forming product. Thus the die holder is structured to cope with low pressure for controlling the attitude of the die. Accordingly, after finely adjusting the attitude of the die to the surface of the forming product, the transcript apparatus needs high pressure for transcribing the pattern formed on the transcription surface of the die onto the surface of the forming product.
However, as mentioned above, since the die holder is to cope with low pressure for the attitude control of the die, the transcript apparatus faces a difficulty in applying high pressure needed for transcription. Further, since the forming product is made of various materials in accordance with the intended use, transcription pressure needs to be properly regulated when transcribing the pattern formed on the die onto the forming product.
In addition, transcript apparatuses of this kind need to maintain an alignment of contact surfaces facing between a die and a forming product in a strictly parallel with each other, and to minimize mutual positional displacement between the die and the forming product during die-pressing and die-removing processes.
A transcript apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-34300 is comprised of: an L-shaped frame 101 including a lower horizontal section 101A and a vertical section 101B; an X-Y stage 102 mounted on the lower horizontal section 101A; a forming product support section 103 mounted on the X-Y stage 102; a moving mechanism 104 located on the vertical section 101B of the frame 101 to be vertically movable; and a die support section 105 supported on the vertical section 101B by means of the moving mechanism 104.
The forming product support section 103 is comprised of a support member (forming product support member) 106 and a magnetic body 107 mounted on the support member 106. The magnetic body 107 allows a forming product 108 to be set thereonto. The die support section 105 is comprised of a support member 109 vertically movable by the moving mechanism 104 and a magnet 111 mounted on a lower surface of the support member 109 by means of a resilient member 110. The magnet 111 permits the die 112 to be set onto a lower surface thereof.
With such a transcript apparatus, the resilient member 110 absorbs deviations from parallel alignment between a surface of the die 112 and a surface of the forming product 108. Further magnetic attraction force generated between the magnet 111 and the magnetic body 107 avoids positional displacement between the support member 109, by which the die 112 is supported, and the support member 106, by which the forming product 108 is supported. Here the positional displacement means lateral displacement caused by relative movement in a direction (horizontal direction) perpendicular to a pressing direction.